Recently in 9 Miscellaneous Category

Engine: I had heard good things about the IO-375 from AeroSport Power.  Fundamentally, it is a parallel valve IO-360 with a redesigned crank that simultaneously lowers compression ratio (8:1) while moving the peak pressure to a point in the crank's rotation that has more mechanical advantage.  The end result is an engine that weighs exactly the same as the parallel valve IO-360, but makes 195 hp.  I spoke at length with Bart LaLonde and am now convinced that this is the engine I'll go with.

EFIS: I have been really impressed with the preliminary info about the Dynon SkyView system, but I wanted to take a close look at Dynon, Advanced Flight Systems, and Grand Rapids.  The Advanced and Grand Rapids systems are available now and look very nice, but I don't need my avionics for a while, so that isn't a big factor for me.  The Dynon system is not yet shipping, but it looks like it will be even nicer than Advanced or Grand Rapids by the time I need to buy anything.  I really like the modular aspect to the system which not only makes it easier to install and upgrade, it makes it easier to extend in the future.  Given that it still has a ways to go before it has all of the promised functionality, I want to wait before making a final decision, but at this point I'm about 95% sure I will go with the Dynon SkyView system.

I also got a Dymo Rhino Pro 3000 label maker today and ordered some heat shrink tubing cartridges for it.  I'm going to use these to label all of the wiring in the plane.

They first took us up to 5k ft and back down to ensure everyone could clear their ears successfully.  We then spent 30 minutes at sea level breathing 100% oxygen to purge some of the nitrogen from our blood.  After a quick mask seal check (which one unfortunate person failed and had to be pulled from the chamber), we started our ascent.  We climbed at about 3k fpm to 8k ft and then leveled off briefly.  We then climbed at 10k fpm to FL180 where we removed our masks for a couple of minutes.  After replacing our masks, we climbed again at 3k fpm to FL250.  We took off our masks and they had us perform a quiz with a few simple questions and a maze.  They told us to start the quiz right after taking off our masks, but I completed it before I really felt anything, so it didn't really show how your brain starts malfunctioning.  After a couple of minutes, I started having a couple of minor symptoms including euphoria and skin tingling, so I turned on the emergency oxygen and put the mask back on.  Finally, we dropped by to FL180 and took off the masks one last time to check our night vision.  I really didn't notice much of a difference in my vision with and without the oxygen at this altitude, but most people did.  Finally, we dropped back to sea level and did a debrief.

Overall, I think the experience was worthwhile, but I was really hoping to experience more loss of mental ability.  No one in the chamber really did anything odd or even appeared to lose their ability to think clearly.  Some people did lose their color or get blue lips, but that was about it.

First stop was the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.  They have a nice museum with many of the supersonic and hypersonic aircraft on display as well as a number of other research aircraft.  We got to tour the flightline and saw the apparatus that loads the space shuttle onto the back of the 747 for the trip to Florida when the shuttle lands at Edwards.

After lunch, we went to Edwards where we toured the base and then toured the flight line.  They have an enormous number of aircraft there that they use for a wide variety of flight tests.  We saw a huge number of F-16 and T-38 aircraft that they use for chase and flight currency.  They also have a number of KC-135 and C-17 aircraft stationed there.  We saw a B-1B on the flightline as well as a couple of F-22s and one F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.  There are a number of other aircraft based there including the Predator, but we didn't get to see them.

The dry lake bed is pretty amazing.  40 square miles of basically perfectly flat surface that's harder than concrete.  They've painted 18 runways out on the lake bed including one that's 7 miles long.  There's also the world's largest compass rose painted on the lake bed that is 1 mile in diameter.

Audio Panel: I had been trying to decide between the Garmin GMA 240 and PS Engineering PMA5000EX.  They're both really nice units and each have their strengths and weaknesses.  The PMA5000EX unit has the IntelliVox (auto-squelch) feature while the GMA 240 has the old style manual squelch control.  However, the front panel controls on the GMA 240 are substantially more user friendly and intuitive.  I had been leaning pretty heavily towards the PMA5000EX, but after the show I'm more split.  I still need to do some more research on this.

Canopy Attach:  I have been trying to decide between screwing the canopy to the frame and gluing it on with sikaflex.  The sikaflex solution results in no holes in the canopy which dramatically reduces the chance of cracks, but it's still a relatively new solution, so the long-term success of this solution is not proven.  The plans specify that the canopy is held on with screws all around, but the difference in the coefficients of expansion between aluminum and plexiglass is substantial, and a rigid fastener like a screw can put highly localized pressure on the canopy.  After looking at a bunch of RVs parked in the parking area, I've decided that I'm going to use screws along the side skirts and around the aft edge of the rear window, but adhesive across the canopy and cabin frames.  I saw one plane done like this and the results were outstanding.

Electrical System: I've been planning on following the AeroElectric Connection wiring diagrams (Z-13), but recently Vertical Power announced the VP-X.  This provides a solid state electrical system that is controlled through your EFIS.  The only issue is that Dynon has not announced support for this since they're still trying to finish the SkyView system.  I think there is a high likelihood that they will provide support for it at some point though, so the question is whether it will happen by the time I need it.  The VP-X provides some really nice features though such as start button disabling, landing/taxi light auto wig-wag, flap overspeed warning, flap positioning, flap extend disable above Vfe, auto trim speed adjustment based on airspeed, better fault detection and alerting, etc.  If Dynon supported it with the SkyView, there is no question that I would go with it.  I could gamble that it will be done by the time I need it, but then I could be grounded if it wasn't.  I also need to do some more research on this and see if I can put the decision off as long as possible.